


You've Always Trusted Ladybug

by uaigneach



Series: We Weren’t Meant to be Heroes [15]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Césaire Knows, Confident Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Gen, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Identity Reveal, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Protect Adrien Agreste, Secret Identity, Supportive Tikki, she hadn't handled the reveal all that well, you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-15 02:31:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14150013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uaigneach/pseuds/uaigneach
Summary: "Why didn't you trust me?" she demanded.Marinette looked down awkwardly. "I do trust you Alya, but you have to understand that this is bigger than all of us. The more you know the more danger you're in! I was protecting you!""Were you really? Or were you just protecting yourself and your precious Adrien?"





	You've Always Trusted Ladybug

**Author's Note:**

> I did my best to edit this okay but I probably missed stuff.

The next time that Marinette was able to talk to Alya was after a late night (around 10 PM) akuma. She would have been spending that Friday night alone – due to Adrien heading back to the mansion to avoid suspicion from his father – but as soon as she dropped onto her balcony she knew she wasn't alone. Further investigation showed that it was Alya. She was sitting in her pyjamas with her laptop lighting up her face with its soft glow.

Marinette's chaise was set up with spare pillows and a comforter, so Alya was here to stay – at least for the night. Still, Marinette was nervous. Throughout the week, Alya had refused to talk to her, which had, in turn, made her feel incredibly uncertain about Alya's stance on her secret. Out of all of her classmates, Alya was the one who could most easily ruin her. Of course, there was a level of distrust. Unfortunately, it seems that Alya had been unable to think objectively.

She quickly opened the door and went into her room and sat down beside her (former?) best friend. She opened her mouth to speak, but Alya beat her to the punch. "Why didn't you trust me?" she demanded.

Marinette looked down awkwardly. "I do trust you Alya, but you have to understand that this is bigger than all of us. The more you know the more danger you're in! I was protecting you!"

"Were you really? Or were you just protecting yourself and your precious Adrien?"

Marinette flinched, but Alya continued with her accusations. "I would have kept your secret! I could've helped you!" she exclaimed, her dark skin flushed with emotion.

"But I couldn't be sure!" Marinette broke, turning to look at her friend with a hard look in her eyes. "I can never be sure, and more than friendship rides on your silence. Our _lives_ hang in the balance and I'm sorry if you believe that feelings are more important, but the risks were too high, and I made a decision. You've always trusted Ladybug, so trust me now."

"And don't for a second think that I don't care about you! Hawkmoth can now come after you for information that you actually have, and I can't expect you to hold up under torture. The less you know the less you get involved. I wanted to tell you! Of course, I did – but then you made it your life mission to expose Ladybug's identity! What was I supposed to do?!" she yelled, her own face turning red. Alya wanted to go down this route, then _she was going to fight_ dammit. She was not in the wrong here for protecting herself and Adrien.

She'd burn the entire world to the ground for him.

 

Alya stared at her with wide and hurt eyes. "You could have told me! I'm your best friend and have been for years. You should've known that I wouldn't sell you out." She says desperately. Marinette shakes her head.

"You have to understand that I couldn't risk lives on information that isn't concrete." She says firmly. "I'm Ladybug, Alya. I have responsibilities that actually matter. I've seen people die – I've almost died so _many_ times. I'm tired and we can't change the past. This is my burden to bear. Not yours."

"But you don't have to do this alone anymore."

Marinette smiles sadly. "I've never been alone, Alya. Even if sometimes it felt like it – I mean I had no idea that Adrien was Chat Noir until a year into the gig."

Alya's eyes widened comically and the anger seemed to drain out of her temporarily as she took in this new information. "Wait you didn't know for that first year? Why?" she asked in shock. Marinette blushed heavily and avoided eye contact.

"I didn't tell _anybody_ because it could risk lives. I was told that I couldn't tell anyone, so I didn't. I found out Chat's identity in a life-threatening situation when he de-transformed due to a near-fatal injury. The suit took too much energy and Adrien needed that to heal." Marinette said awkwardly, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. Adrien had taken yet another hit for her, but that time he'd been in really bad shape. Like almost died type of bad. She'll never forget how much blood he'd lost. It had been terrifying.

Alya winced. "I remember that fight." She admitted softly. "That was the day when the akumas first started getting intentionally deadly. I had nightmares about that for weeks and I refused to post anything about it on the Ladyblog." The mood in the room had taken a turn for somber as the two girls remembered that traumatic fight. It had been a major wake up call for the teens that saw it. All the same, Paris' citizens forgot very quickly.

There was a moment of silence before Alya spoke once more, frowning in confusion. "Wait… you said you were _‘told'_ not to tell anyone? If it wasn't Adrien, then who?"

Marinette's eyes flickered over to her purse, and she subconsciously touched her earrings. "I've never told anyone this – in fact, I've sort of not been completely honest with the class either." She admitted, wincing as Alya's stare intensified. "But it's not my secret to tell and uh…" she trailed off. She figured that she owed Alya this much, but revealing her secrets was harder than she thought it would be. The side effects of hiding for so long. Becoming Ladybug had really changed her.

The question was if it had been more for the better or worse.

 

Luckily the choice to do this was taken out of her hands by Tikki herself. The small Ladybug kwami flew from her purse to hover in front of Alya's face. "Don't be too harsh on Marinette. I was the one she was protecting."

Alya's eyes went comically wide as she stared at the flying thing in front of her. "W-whu-what?!" she gasped, almost leaping backward in her shock. "What are _you_?! And what do you have to do with all of this?"

"Like I said. I wasn't completely honest with the class about where my powers come from." Marinette blushed.

Tikki smiled shyly. "Hi, my name's Tikki and I'm a kwami, the source of Ladybug's powers. It's lovely to finally meet you in person Ms. Césaire!" she chimed in as Alya recovered from her shock.

"I couldn't tell you before because I didn't want anyone to know too much about how our powers work. But I do trust you Alya." Marinette insisted, nervously twirling her hair as she implored her friend to understand. She didn't want to lose Alya. She meant too much to her. "But please don't tell anyone – well other than Nino. I'm sure Adrien is telling him.

 

Alya nodded still gaping slightly in a daze. Then suddenly her vision cleared, and she squealed as she stared at Tikki. "Oh my god you're so cute!" she exclaimed excitedly. "How do your powers work? What do you eat? Oh, I have so many questions."

Tikki giggled. "I'll be happy to answer all of your questions, Alya. Just promise you won't be angry at Marinette anymore."

Alya mock pouted as she made an exaggerated thinking face. "Well…" she gazed slyly at Marinette. "If Marinette promises to give me an interview with Ladybug and chat Noir for the Ladyblog…"

"Deal."

**Author's Note:**

> So I just want to say a giant thank you to everyone who has commented! I appreciate the comments so much and they just make my day. Yes I am working on another fic for this series (I'm thinking a 5+1 thing with the class helping the duo combined with a base for a chloe redemption type thing) but idk when it will be finished. As always, I am open to prompts or things you want to see from this series so please leave a comment below!
> 
> And if you want to request things that aren't a part of this series (or fandom even) then feel free to request! I'm part of a lot of fandoms that I haven't written for yet but if you want a basis check out my other works lol


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